A field exercise. An asinine means for fostering team camaraderie among the still wet-behind-the-ears members of Team X. Separated from each other, the ferals of the team find themselves with time to kill and their phone comms for recreation. V/L

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect or character of the Marvel Universe nor elements of the X-Men Origins movieverse. Incest, sexual situations, allusions to violence. Victor/Logan-oneshot

Roger-Wilco

Another field exercise. James was fine with the constant jumping through hoops as long as it kept him and Victor busy, but lately each exercise was more of a survival game than a simple team-forging scenario. The months on Team X had begun to bleed together, making the past more of a blur he could shuck back into the recesses of his mind before he did yet another deed that would leave him haunted and adding to the horrors committed.

He really preferred flying in a helicopter over a plane. Sure he was still feeling the dips and maneuvers, but the undulations weren't as sharp and violent as a jet's, and his stomach didn't drop into his ass. He zipped up his vest when the co-pilot signaled at him to get ready for the drop.

A burst of humid air brought him out of his brooding thoughts. The 'copter was hovering over a waterfall that dropped into a murky-looking pool of water in the middle of yet another rainforest, and the guy manning the door signaled the okay for him to drop down. James couldn't help the surly scowl cross his face as he stepped to the open door and surveyed the long drop down. Without a second glance, he leapt out of the helicopter down through the greenery and into cold water. The rush of water thundered around him when he surfaced and paddled to the shore, climbing up on the rocks and making his way through the dark canopies of trees and vines. He could hear the buzzing of insects and the skittering of creatures as he shook the water out of his hair before fishing into his vest pocket. He slipped on the phone comm's mouth piece and pressed the earpiece on, the synching of frequencies bustling in his ear before clearing into a direct signal with base.

"Eagle, this is Alpha. Drop successful, go ahead."

He heard the whizzing as the signal picked up. "Alpha, this is Eagle. Proceed. Over" Bradley's meek voice spoke crisply, meaning Stryker was hovering over the technopath's shoulder.

The kid's comm procedure was still novice, so James managed to take the edge out of his tone as he communicated, "Eagle, yah gotta tell me coordinates. Dropped in with no latitude or longitude. Request protocol. Over."

"Roger. Any bogies? Over" James spoke as he unsheathed his bone-claws and began to hack through the thick vines and vegetation to clear his path.

"Affirmative. Zero and Wraith are Aces high and low. Dukes is waiting to drop, and, uh, Wilson's AWOL…Over."

Ducking through the low branches and swatting at a mosquito, Logan rolled his eyes. Zero and Wraith were somewhere north and south of him, Dukes was probably chewing on a candy bar like an apathetic cow up in the air, and Wade was doubtlessly singing 'In the Midnight Hour' to himself again while he sharpened his goddamned swords.

"Copy that. What about Victor? Over" he inquired and tilted his head to the side when the signal crackled.

"Sorry, Alpha. Lost phone comm channel with him. He's liable to have grown bored with the waiting, so it's up to you to find him and avoid detection by the other bogies. Find the checkpoint first and you both'll have earned a weekend pass. Over and out" Stryker's guileful voice radioed in.

"Figures" James grunted before clicking his earpiece over to a different channel. He surfed the frequencies and quietly sniffed the air until he picked up chatter.

"—Dukes, where tha hell are yah?" he heard Wraith nag over the channel before it crackled with the pickup of another phone comm.

"Hell'f I know" the unworried drawl of Dukes replied, sounding as if he was in mid chew of something. "M'near a gorge…upstream, I think."

"Would you ladies put a cork in it? Eagle said HQ is in radio silence with Alpha, but we're still live channels! Clear." Zero's voice barked over the channel with a snippy edge.

"Eagles, HQ's, and Alphas, Oh my!" was suddenly sing sung over the channel. "Oh Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore~" Wade chirped in mock distress and earned a chorus of groans and scoffs over the channel. "Hiya 'fellas! I'm so glad I found the party line! Here I was, singing my favorite Wilson Pickett diddy, surfing the channels—"

"Shut it, Wade. Where the hell are you?" Zero cut in.

"I'm in the Land of Oz—well, more like downstream from Dukes. Don't you know it's bad to litter, buddy? Throwing your candy wrappers in the river is not eco-friendly!" he acerbically joked. "Oh, speaking of eco-friendly, Victor is not. That overgrown puss cleared out the animals in a 3-click radius, and I don't think it was from his excellent camping skills—"

James clicked out of the channel and rubbed his temple. Wade's affably-lilted tirade made his head throb and his mood was souring at the fact that he was the other guys' target. This was a 'capture-the-ferals' heavy exercise, and while he was sure he could get to the checkpoint just fine without being detected, the fact that he had to join up with 'Omega' made the mission a hassle. He suddenly pictured Victor crouched in the trees somewhere, grinning like a Cheshire and loving that he was codenamed Omega—the great, the end.

It suited him.

He sniffed the air, picking up a few stray scents that were dank from the heat. He waded through thickets of foliage and hacked down branches where necessary while he pondered the logistics of the mission. Victor had been deployed into the jungle 48 hours before, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a map torn in half. James had the other half of the map tucked into a pocket inside his vest, and was lacking supplies that were standard issue for most of the other members of the team.

Then again, the two ferals never had much to work with before, so it shouldn't surprise him that Stryker thought the same.

His ears strained at the sound of birds bursting out of a canopy of trees just off to the east of him. Nostrils flaring, the younger feral trekked stealthily through the trees and over mossy rocks, sensing he was being watched, but unable to pinpoint from where. When he climbed to lurk behind a thick tree, his palm brushed over four angry gashes etched deep into the bark. His head instinctually tipped to sniff the bark, closing his eyes to let the scent dance along his senses before tracing one gouge with the tip of his finger. The sap was still wet, so James snapped cautious glances around him before crouching down and surfing through the phone comm channels again.

"—quiet on the Western front!" Wade snickered in faux soldiery on one channel.

"Put a sock in it, Wade!" Agent Zero growled over the line.

"Jeez, you two bickerin' back and for s'gonna make it easy as pie for Logan and Victor to skip on out of here" John grumbled tersely. "And I wanted that weekend pass…" he mumbled in a sigh.

"All about the mouth for me. I mean a girl with nice knockers is a plus, but if she's got an ugly mouth" Wade trailed off matter-o-factly. "And the things a girl'll do with her mouth—"

James switched channels, irritated with the endless chatter. The boys acted more like an old sewing circle than a team of mercenaries. He zipped through a few channels until he heard a telltale tapping on one line. It sounded like the tip of a nail was tapping on the plastic mic of a communicator. Tilting his head, he listened to the tapping for a few seconds until he realized it was Morse code. When the message was repeated, he tapped the Morse reply for "Roger-Wilco" and switched to the instructed frequency.

"Oh Jimmy, Jimmy-boy~" Victor's gruff purr filled his ear as soon as he clicked into the new channel.

"Where you at? Over" James asked, trying to stay all business as he tried to follow the trail of gnarled trees and slashed earth Victor had left in his wake.

"Aw, is that all you have to say to your big brother?" he growled deviously. "I've been bored out of my fuckin' mind, runt. What the fuck took yah so long?"

"Ask your C.O., bub. He's the one who deployed us all today" James grumbled back, irritated he couldn't find Victor and that his older brother was being an inconspicuous predator. "Where are you—?"

"Why don't you use that snout of yours and find me?" Victor cut in acerbically. "Or are you too good for that, runt" he taunted in a gravelly tone.

James scowled despite himself. He followed the trail until Victor chuckled over the line.

"If you have time to laugh, why don't you just tell me where the hell you're at?" he groused, wiping sweat off his forehead as he squinted up at the punishing rays that broke through the foliage.

"C'mon, runt. S'been a while since you've hunted all on your lonesome's" Victor sneered. "I know where you're at, but I ain't moving—"

"Oh fer christsakes…" James muttered, closing his eyes against his rising aggravation as he tried to focus his senses on his surroundings. His nostrils flared when a gusty breeze flapped through the thick canopy above. A whiff of something wild and familiar carried down to him and he started trudging upwind. "Ah, you're perched somewhere to the west of me. Grab the decoys yet?"

"What d'you think?" was the snarky reply he received, quickly followed by, "got the other half of that fucking map?"

"What do you think?" he returned dryly, tugging the zipper of his vest down to below his diaphragm so he wouldn't suffocate from the muggy heat.

Victor grunted. "What's the chatter like?"

"Damned lot of 'em think we're out camping or something. They're mostly griping to each other like a bunch of kids playing army in the backyard. Should be a cake walk getting outta here before night fall" James offered; the most he'd said in the last two days.

"Hah."

James heard the devious edge in his brother's scoff, wondering just what the hell was dancing in that thick head of his. They'd been part of the team for several months, and Victor had taken a real shine to the work, to the point that James—going by Logan to the other kiddies—was getting serious reservations about just what would happen once their field exercises were over with and Stryker deployed them for missions.

"Penny for your thoughts, runt" Victor husked over the line, snapping James out of his musings.

"Just wondering where the hell you're hiding" he grumbled. When he came to an awkward clearing, he stopped in his tracks and gritted his teeth. The spot was teeming with Victor's scent, but it was stale. He realized the other feral had probably bedded down here, purposely leaving his scent so to throw him off his track. His brother could be anywhere. "Goddammit Victor—!"

A raspy chuckle filtered into his ear, sending a rush of heat to his cheeks from more than just fury. "Oh, sorry, did you want me to tell you if you were getting hot or cold?"

Fists tightening at his sides, James growled in the back of his throat. "I'm not in the mood to play hide and seek with you, Vic. I want that weekend pass—!"

"You know what I want?" Victor cut in with a terse drawl. "I want you to show me why they made you Alpha. I mean, we both know that isn't very accurate to our…dynamic" the gruffness of his voice took on a provocative edge on the last word.

"If you want me to show yah, get yer ass down from whatever tree yer screwing around in!" James snarled.

James glared around, trying to guess the likeliest path Victor would've trekked. Deducing that he'd be downwind, he stalked eastward, running over fallen tree limbs and thickets and trying to think like the older feral. Down slope, but elevated off the ground. He'll be able to see in all directions like that.

"Oh, getting warm" Victor mused snidely.

Looking across and overhead for the best places to perch, James bounded towards the right, looking at what seemed like another trail courtesy of Victor.

"Ah, cold. Oh, now you're getting colder—hah, you're freezing, runt!"

James halted in his tracks and whirled around, angrily glaring at his surroundings as he growled into the mic, "Either tell me where the hell you are or I'm gonna get on the comm and radio in my coordinates."

The line went quiet for a moment. For that moment, James thought he'd screwed himself and that Victor was gonna kick his ass just on principle.

"Remember the last time we got split up in combat?"

James was struck silent, his shoulders squaring with tension as he crouched down behind a tree and listened to Victor continue.

"Up to my fucking shins in rice paddies, and couldn't find you fer shit. Then I find you helping some gook frail at a village, 3 clicks away. I didn't know whether to hug you or hit you" Victor growled.

James remembered. The look in Victor's eyes had been a mix of relief and rage, tumultuous blue blazing at him as he'd stalked right up to him and shoved the poor woman away. Victor's claws had dug into his shoulders as he shook him hard, his lips curling back to show off his fangs as he sneered at the girl who shuffled away from them. Just when James had expected Victor to go berserk, his brother's eyes had locked onto his and the anger had flinted away from his gaze, hands unclamping from his shoulders to instead pull him against his barrel chest.

That had been the last time Victor had hugged him like that; feeling the fear leech out of him, the anxiety still clinging to his sweaty skin and the relief flooding his scent. James had hugged him back and buried his nose against the column of Victor's throat, and had mumbled his apology.

"Remember how scared she was? Couldn't get her to stop yammering until I wagged that wad of cash in her face, then those doe eyes turned slutty like they do on all frails" he snorted, and James could hear the smirk in his voice as he continued, "She wanted to ride yer dick to Saigon, and we obliged her, didn't we runt?"

The girl had been getting hassled by some marines when James came upon the village, so he had helped her away from the rowdy bunch, all the while looking around frantically for Victor, scanning around every time he heard a shout or saw a group of soldiers running one way or another. The girl was a typical camp straggler, making her way to Saigon by following the crowd of green and scraping money together whenever they bothered to pay her.

"She liked you, too. But then they always did. You'd have those puppy-dog eyes and they'd want to turn good, just for you" he cynically remarked.

"And you'd be rough and scare the hell out of them" James offered crossly.

Victor chuckled, disregarding Jimmy's comment. "Had to hand it to her, she knew how to use that mouth, huh" he husked. "Eager little thing. Stroking you hard, wrapping those soft lips around your cock…and looking over at me while she sucked you off. Could smell her getting wet while you fucked her hot mouth, but you know what the best part was?"

Listening to Victor's raunchy recollection was making him antsy. The urge knotted in his gut as he licked his lips, trying badly to not think about how long it'd been since he'd gratified himself. He knew it was the same for Victor, having been months since they'd gotten out of their cell. The solitary confinement after being unsuccessfully executed had been short lived, but that had been the last time both ferals were alone with each other.

Just thinking about it was riling him up.

"The best part" Victor purred, "Was watching you try not to lose control. The look in your eyes, how you'd clench your jaw and fist your hands—anything to not grab and ravage her."

James closed his eyes, his huff coming out as a shaky pant. Sweat was breaking out on the small of his back, and his canvas fatigues were getting tight around the crotch. He distinctly remembered how he'd shaken with his efforts to not grab her—to not buck his hips up or bury his cock down her throat when he came, but most of all he remembered opening his eyes and watching Victor.

"I never got it, runt. You could've fucked the little frail. But you didn't, even though I knew you still wanted more. Could taste it on you" he rumbled into his ear, the sound of his breath coming and going in shallow pants just audible to James' keen ears. James could hear a telltale sound, but couldn't make it out.

"You didn't either" and we both know how insatiable you are, "So why didn't you?" Jimmy scoffed to try and hide how turned on he was.

"Cuz I would've broken her" Victor laughed, "and I didn't want yah to get all pissed at me over some stupid gook bitch."

His thoughts recoiled at the reminder that it was Victor's insatiable impulse in grabbing an unwilling 'gook bitch' that got them in so much fucking trouble. But just as the thought came, Jimmy couldn't help feel guilty; not like he was much of a saint.

"Nah…I was satisfied with just watching" Victor grunted softly in his ear, and James slowly realized what he was doing. "Whatcha waiting for, runt. Talk to me; convince me why I should buy you as the Alpha, cuz so far yah just got me bored, thinking about you sitting in a rut, hand itching for your cock."

"Sounds like you got more than your mind wandering yourself, bub" James countered, but couldn't help himself, letting the palm of his hand caress the bulge in his pants. "You're the one in a constant rut, Vic. Gotta have self-control to be the Alpha, which is why I was made top dog and you weren't" he retorted as snidely as he could while his fingers began to work his fatigues undone.

Victor's bark of laughter turned into a seductive chuckle, sending a rush of heat into his loins as he also made out the sound of skin stroking skin over the comm. "More like top pup, Jimmy-boy. You couldn't be Alpha if yer dick depended on it. Not with me around, but then you like it when I'm on top; don't hear you grousing about self-control then" he taunted before a grunt caught in his throat. "The reason they made you Alpha's cuz you weren't tough enough to be Omega. Everyone knows I'm the Alpha on the team, let alone between the two of us."

James gritted his teeth, snickering as he shot back, "Regardless. Sounds like you want me to be the Alpha, Vic. Maybe all the times you watched was cuz you wanted to switch places—be the one on your knees for me. Bet if I forced you—"

"It's a bet you'd lose, runt. You can't force me—"

"For argument's sake, Victor, if I forced you, I bet you'd like it. I know I would" James cut in, stroking himself as he stretched back against the tree he was crouched behind. "Get you on your belly for once…taking it and being the good boy enjoying it on the bottom…" he panted gruffly, squeezing his own engorged sex and biting his lip as precum began to drip down his slit.

Victor's groan purred through the earpiece, vibrating through him and making him painfully throb in response. "Well, for argument's sake…what would you do if you could force me, huh Jimmy? Cuz if you think you'll get me keening the way you do—"

"First off I'd shove something in that goddamned mouth of yours, after getting you on your knees for me, of course" James growled, licking his lips as he arched back, closing his eyes and imagining his salacious scenario. Victor hummed, a provocative rumble that spoke volumes along with the increased sound of his palm stroking his engorged flesh over the comm. "Shit, we shouldn't do this Victor—"

"Oh yah gotta be kidding, Jimmy. You can't back out now!" Victor admonished with an exasperated bite to his tone.

"We could get heard over the channel, jackass! Not to mention we're on a damn field exercise—"

"This channel is restricted for aviation chatter, you fuckwit! It wasn't even on the charter, so the other assholes don't know about it. And even if they did…would it matter?" Victor growled, gruff and riled up.

"Do you really want Stryker—or worse, Wade hearing us dirty talk on a fucking field exercise? Not to mention get caught dick-in-hand by one of 'em?" James rationalized, his eyes actually darting around at the spectacle he'd made of himself for any unsuspecting Team X merc to stumble upon.

"For fuck's sake, do you think they'd have the fucking guts to even say anything if they did? And you said so yourself! This fucking thing is a cake walk for us" Victor rationalized back, adding dangerously, "If any of 'em said anything, I'd gut them where they stood."

"Oh yeah, cuz that would go over well with the brass…"

"Goddammit, Jimmy, would you stop being a pussy!" Victor barked loudly in his ear, making James wince. "If you wanna get to the checkpoint with my half of the map, you better not chicken out!" he advised darkly.

James growled under his breath, glaring down at his ramrod erection as he palmed it begrudgingly. "Fuck, I'm too riled up to chicken out…" he grunted, stroking himself as he heard Victor grunt in response. "Do you even remember her name?" he suddenly wondered, and heard Victor scoff. "It was Ai'Ly. You kept calling her "Fuck'me" and she'd complain to me that her name meant gentle tiger, or something like that," he paused, then, "That was the longest girl that stuck around us…"

"Feh, she tagged along for 2 days, Jimmy. And we didn't even fuck the bitch" Victor griped.

"Yeah, but even when she figured we weren't normal, she didn't freak out and run away—"

"That's cuz she knew no one fucked with us. Better to stay close to danger you know than what you don't" he muttered.

James grunted. "Did she ever try to…with you?" he closed his eyes and pictured Victor watching him getting sucked off by Ai'Ly. He could still remember the steely lust in Victor's eyes, the way his lips quirked when they parted to pant a raspy exhalation and his shamelessness—hand working his thick shaft as he watched James orgasm.

"Nah…she was afraid of me. Oh, wait—that's a lie" Victor remarked, correcting himself with a snicker. James grunted, hand pausing. He'd only asked cuz he'd assumed it would've derailed him off topic, but now he felt the tables turn. "She'd gone to where some punks had started a bonfire that last night, and had started getting harassed by this one little prick, so I went up and shoved the fucker away and hauled her back to our tent. She didn't even yammer like she usually did, so I let her go and plopped down to sleep—think you were on watch that night" he recollected. "Anyway, it got real quiet and I thought she was just gonna stay huddled in the corner until you got back, but next thing I know, she crawled behind me and started kissing on me, down my shoulder and arm—"

"You never said anything!" James sourly retorted.

"Cuz there's nothing to tell. I turned to look at her, and she started murmuring all quickly that she wanted to thank me but knew I didn't like her, just a bunch of crap. So I told her that if I wanted any of her lip, I'd jiggle my zipper. She didn't get it, so I smiled and said: "I'm not as gentle as Jimmy, Fuck'me." When I thought she was finally gonna take the hint, she cautiously reached her little hand down and cupped my crotch" he recounted, his voice growing husky from replaying the memory in his mind.

James was trying to recall that night. He had been on watch, but he'd actually spent a few hours afterwards arguing with one of the captains, trying to secure Ai'Ly's trip on a refugee convoy to Saigon. When he'd gotten back to the tent, the Vietnamese girl had been sleeping on Victor's bedroll, while his brother had been sitting by the bonfire a few yards away, watching the flames with a half-empty bottle of whiskey cradled against his thigh.

Victor hummed, the sound of him scratching his jaw filtering into his ear. "She'd started rubbing me through my fatigues, and I watched her for a bit; wanted to see what else she'd have the guts to do. When she went for my zipper, I grabbed her by the back of her hair…" he trailed off when Jimmy took a quick intake of breath. "Forced her to look at me, and told her: "For a gentle lion, yer pretty reckless." She looked surprised, so I rolled my eyes and pushed her head down on my lap and told her to suck. She did like I told her…unzipped me and started off stroking my cock all nervously like I was gonna yell at her any minute, so I growled and caressed the back of her head. She took the hint, and slipped her mouth over my cock, licking and sucking…eager little mouth she had. Fuck, I remember she did this thing with her tongue" Victor groaned, adding gruffly, "Tip of her tongue twirled around my slit and dipped in. I actually laid back and locked my hands behind my head cuz I didn't wanna hurt her—didn't want her to fucking stop."

James hummed with arousal, stroking himself shamelessly to the images Victor was conjuring and to the sounds his brother was making as he jerked off over the comm channel.

"She got me real riled up, but I managed not to get too rough…kept my hands off her. Even when she licked up and scraped her teeth all gentle-like on my tip, all I did was buck up into her mouth. She made this little mewl sound in the back of her throat—not a bad one; she liked it, could smell her get wet…" Victor was panting as he stroked himself, his voice getting husky.

"Fuck Victor…" James groaned, feeling himself close to the edge.

"I thought about fucking her, could've cuz she wanted it. Wanted to bend her over and take her hard; thought about doing it and having you walk in on it. See if you'd watch us…what you'd do if I was fucking her into the dirt while she moaned and clawed for you, wanting you to shove your cock into her mouth—"

"Victor—Ah!" James cried out, groaning as he stroked himself into a hearty orgasm, clasping the palm of his hand over his tip so he'd contain his ejaculation from spilling all over him.

"Talk to me, Jimmy" Victor panted over the line, sounding hungry for his own bliss.

"Mmm…wish I could've watched…let you take her from behind in front of me. Hell, just watch you on your back, with her mouth working on you… sucking your cock until you fill her mouth" Jimmy murmured gruffly, hands slick with his own cum and still stroking himself into a warm afterglow. Encouraged by Victor's aroused growl, he continues, "Wanna crawl over you and finish riling you up, like you'd do for me, 'cept keep you on yer back—show you just how fucking Alpha I can get!" Victor groaned, his panting growl reverberating over the earpiece along with the quickening pace of his stroking. "Fuck yah belly-up, force yah to take it hard and fast until yer arching up and crying out for it for a change, and just when you're about to lose it, I'll bite down on your throat, taste you just as you claw for more—"

"Shit—!" Victor hollered hoarsely, his grunt trickling into a groan as he came and stroked himself into mindless bliss. "Oh fuck, Jimmy!" he croaked huskily, humming as he tried to regain his breath. "Goddamn…" he growled in a pleased husk, sending a shiver down James' spine.

"Hmf, feeling's mutual…" he murmured in a gravelly tone, his brow arching as he looked down at himself and the mess he'd made, wondering if Victor looked just as perverse.

"Ah hell, gonna have to roll around in mud…" Victor's huff made James chuckle as he wiped his hands clean on the mossy ground before tucking himself back into his fatigues and fastening them up. "I'm northeast of you, runt. Come meet up" he rumbled in his ear before switching his phone comm off and leaving James to snort and do the same.

Once sure he was as clean as he was gonna get, James zipped his vest back up and trekked northeast. Coming to a muddy foothold flanked around by giant mossy trees, James sniffed around and looked up just in time to avoid getting hit by a canvas duffle bag that dropped out of the shady darkness of the trees above head. He grunted, wiping mud off his face and arms just to have more splashed on him when Victor dropped down and landed in a crouch a few feet away from him.

"Dammit Victor!" He snarled, wiping at his face and shucking mud off his front.

Victor snorted and pried his boots out of the mud as he nonchalantly smeared the thick soil off his bare arms. Like James, he was wearing a black vest and ever-present dog tags, but unlike the younger feral, he was sporting dark green canvas fatigues and a black sleeveless undershirt. He looked just as he did when he left base, save for the wear and tear of his clothes. "Its mud, runt. Not any dirtier than what yer still smelling of" he grinned, his snide chuckle echoing around them. He walked over to James and picked up the duffle bag at his feet before shoving it into Jimmy's arms. "By the way, you smell good" he leaned in and smirked, brushing his nose teasingly along his jaw before trudging out of the muddy foothold for higher ground.

James arched a cynical brow and followed him, carrying the duffle bag. "I think yer right, Vic; you should take a roll in the mud before we head to the checkpoint. The others might not have our noses, but even they'll pick up what you've been up to" he countered, earning a scoff from Victor.

"Just shut up and dig into the bag for the first decoy, would yah" Victor snorted as he surveyed their surroundings.

James grunted, unzipping the bag and pulling out one of the odd-looking camouflaged disks. "So what're these things good for?" he inquired as he tossed the disk over to Victor.

Catching it easily, he crouched down and started clawing up soil before easing the disk in and concealing it with moss and branches. "They're supposed to be like mutant-styled bear traps. Least that's what they said in the briefing" he answered and signaled James over. "Find the remote in the pouch sewn into the inseam. Once I activate it we've gotta get 10 yards away from it in less than 10 seconds" he instructed, standing from his crouch and wiping the dirt off onto his fatigues. James got the remote out and surveyed it before Victor snatched it out of his hands. "Ready?"

James nodded, and Victor cued in some sequence, pointed it downward to the concealed disk, and when the display screen pulsated red, they hightailed it out of there, clearing 25 yards in under 8 seconds before they stopped and looked back.

"Now we just do it 3 more times" he flashed a fangy smile as he took the duffle bag from James and gestured with his chin off to the distance. "Checkpoint is about a click that way. We need to set the decoys, radio in on a comm channel the others will hear us on, and then move onto the checkpoint—"

"Wait, how do you know where the checkpoint is? What about the map—"

"What the hell do you think I was doing out here for 2 days? Filing my nails?" Victor snickered. "Just wanted to make sure you had your half of it, in case there's something I missed."

"But Stryker said we couldn't cross the checkpoint without each other—"

"Yeah, but he didn't say I couldn't survey it from a distance if I did find it, did he" Victor remarked slyly, his eyes twinkling gloatingly.

James rolled his eyes. "This is beyond a cake walk."

Victor snorted smugly. "No shit."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

James puffed on his cheap cigar, staring across at the horizon as dusk quickly approached. "Think any of 'em will get caught?" he asked as he passed Victor the cigar.

"One of 'em will. I'm hoping it'll be Wade" he smirked before puffing on the cigar and leaning against Jimmy. "Just hope the fuckin' 'copter gets here before the mosquitoes come out" he muttered as he flicked the ash off the cigar and passed it to his brother.

James grunted with humor at the image of Wade caught in a bear trap, flailing and whining like the clown he is. He leaned his shoulder into Victor's and looked across the jungle. "Whatcha have in mind for your weekend pass?"

"Eat, drink, sleep. Maybe get in a good fuck" Victor replied and glanced at Jimmy, his stare cool and confident. James snorted. "Guess the same for you, huh runt."

"Got nothin' planned" was all he retorted, and puffed on his cigar.

The checkpoint platform sat like a camouflaged tree house with a helicopter deck perched just above the vast tree tops, obscuring it from view on the ground level. Victor leaned his forearms on the railing and stared off into the sunset with a tame smile quirking his lips. James watched him out of the corner of his eye, puffing on the cigar.

"So how did it end?"

Victor glanced at Jimmy, his brow barely arching before he turned sideways to lean his waist against the railing. Sans his vest, his dog tags clinked against his chest and glinted as he leaned close to James with his brawny arms crossed. "I didn't hurt her. You saw for yourself…" he murmured, his eyes steely and his expression implacable.

"I know…I was just wondering…" James said flatly before he averted his eyes and ground out the cigar on the metal railing.

Victor exhaled noisily out of his nose and leaned against the railing again. A long silence passed between them that was filled with the muted sounds of the jungle around them, until Victor spoke.

"I got off, she was a good little frail and took it all, and then I left. Told her you'd be back soon and to just stay in the tent. Got a bottle of watered down whiskey, and just hung by the bonfire until first light…you got her on that convoy, and that was the end of it" his tone was gruff but faraway, vacant of any residual feelings.

This had all happened during their first tour in Vietnam—early on before it became the clusterfuck it was known for. Back then, Victor had been vicious, but nothing like what he became by the time they were surrounded by their own platoon— a wild beast of a man snarling and lashing out for blood and gore. It'd always taken a small trigger to set him off, but the savagery towards that nameless woman he'd tried to rape and plunder had scared James unlike anything else before.

Invariably, it had been there the whole time; the animal. That monstrous side to Victor that James tried to suppress within himself sometimes. But, Victor had kept it in check as best as he could. He'd show sides of himself that only Jimmy could recognize as the true core of Victor's nature; the man who dreamed to be more than an animal. Hearing about what happened with Ai'Ly was just one of a series of moments that kept James hopeful—that had kept him by Victor's side. While that day had been the first time Victor had ceased being his brother and became the beast inside, there was still a part of James that knew he and Victor were inseparable…and hoped his brother wouldn't lose himself in the beast again.

It was a hope he hung onto like a leash, a leash attached to more than just Victor, but also to himself.

The remote in Victor's pocket began to beep, bringing them back from their pensive thoughts. Getting the remote, Victor snorted. "Looks like we caught one" he chuckled. "Wanna see if we can fool the others?" he wagged the remote to James, who took it while Victor fastened the mic and earpiece back on before turning his phone comm to an unsecure channel. "Jimmy? You lost? C'mon I'm stuck here without your half of the map! I dunno where the hell I'm supposed to be going" he groused sternly while a wily grin played on his lips.

James bit back an amused sound as he got his phone comm on and radioed into the channel. "Dammit Victor! I told you I'm northeast from you! Get yer ass over here before someone hears you!" They turned off their phone comms and started laughing. This might be a team-fostering exercise, but he and Victor were all the team they needed. The remote started beeping again, and James showed the flashing display to Victor. "This is too much fun. Who yah think fell for the trap now?" he snickered.

"My money's on Wade and Fred" Victor chuckled.

"Wade's a given. I say Zero—for all his uptight bullshit, got caught like the punk-ass he is" he gave a rare smile to Victor. "Let's see who it is! They'll be radioing in for help—"

"Alright, but lets make a bet. Wade-Fred for me, Wade-Zero for you. Loser'll buy the drinks for the rest of the month; winner'll be the undisputed Alpha too…" he propositioned with a smug lopsided smirk.

James sized Victor up before huffing with good humor and nodding ruggedly. They turned on their phone comms and immediately found the channel the other boys were currently gripping on.

"Wilco. Over and Out" he ended the transmission and smirked broadly at Jimmy, who sported his usual glower of displeasure. "You can call me Alpha from now on, soldier. And I don't like the cheap stuff, so be ready to dig deep for those drinks" he teased leeringly.

"Live it up, bub, cuz this arrangement stays between us, understood?" James fronted, his gestures firm but the look in his eyes complacent; accepting.

Victor pulled him over and smirked, his breath hot on Jimmy's cheek. "Don't I always keep it between us, runt?" he growled, the smile reaching his smoky blue eyes while rueful amusement danced in Jimmy's brown ones.

The chatter was going on over James' still live phone comm, but luckily he'd taken the mic off and held it in his closed fist, leaving the other's none the wiser while he and Victor waited more than patiently for their helicopter ride back to base.

THE END!

THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW!

A/N: This is an overdue oneshot I promised an awesome friend a while back as a form of thanks for all the awesome little comics and hysterical fanart she's done for me! She requested something with Victor/Logan involving a form of phone sex and Logan being aggressive, so here you go! Hope you guys enjoyed!